arrest is imminent or has been made seems to me to be wrong. >> let's check in with lester holt. lester, all day long we have this slow drip through various media sources of photos. photo of a portion after zipper found on the road. photo of a battery with leads and of course, yesterday we learned about these pieces instantly recognizable, if you know anything about pressure cookers, the electronic water mark on the base. the kind of -- the place where the leads and elements come in to all pressure cookers, so that's been the other part of piecing this together.

>> brian, you have to give it to authorities, they got on this right away p n putting out that plea for pictures, in fact. they were at the airport, at logan airport two days ago as the runners began, i guess it would have been yesterday, as runners were leaving for their various homes, asking, do you have any video. do you have any pictures, taking a look at what people have reported. people have gotten into the spirit of this. they want to help. you look at tv and there is a parade of photos that people are contributing that may or may be be a point of significance np they have reduced the area of the neighborhood that is blocked off. they have blocked off a concentrated area basically between the two points of detonation. there is a fair amount of activity. not as much on the street as we saw in previous days. the tempo of things here, it is hard to gauge. can you probably here in the background right now, sirens. it seems like every police car, every plain-clothesed car, has

its sirens on as it whisks past us. whether there is an up tick in the tempo, there continues to be a heavy police presence o the streets here. i took a walk around the area, as far as we could go a while ago and virtually every time you turn, there was another police officer on the street. you hear another sheik whizzing past us. it is not atypical but we continue to watch from thvantag point. >> lester holt, you are absolutely right. former director of the national counterterrorism center, you've been listening and speaking to folks on your own today. anything you have to add to where we think this is right now? >> i really don't, brian. but what is clear is the investigation is accelerating pretty rapidly. and that's good news. we have called for patience, the president has called for

patience. what we see now is piecing together the video, using the public to help potentially identify someone. combining that with some of the forensic evidence, the look of the potential backpack or bags, this is what, if the investigation is going well, this is exactly what we would expect. and it is actually going more rapidly than we could have hoped. >> help us out. because in your past job at the white house, you were able to get a master's degree and imagery. if we're looking for a face in a crowd, a lot of us have seen on the web and on television individuals that could have done this. you can, with the amount of the number of pixels in an average digital camera these days, you can do a lot bet are than just five or ten years ago. >> you really can. not only that, but a lot of the video and photographs collected from different surveillance videos and from people's cell

phones, that can be enhanced. you can get a sharper and sharper picture. . you can use and just looking that the and see who it is, compare that to motor vehicle registration and the like to see if it matches anyone there. do facial recognition against that. these are all the tools they had to try to help identify the individual once they have someone who looks to have been carrying bags or dropping off a bag in that location. >> in an average metropolitan city, we are talking about a stationary camera, there is a big landmark in boston, a block away from where the bombs went off, they have their own camera. city of boston has theirs. most businesses -- and again, technology smaller than a hockey puck. people see them if they are aware of them. the plexiglass dome can often contain three or four camera heads. sometimes led lighting at night. >> this is a radical change from five or six years a i go. all of our cities are wired. some of those will be the

official cameras for say the boston police department. as you said, almost every business and every person. and that's why officials came out early on and said, please, turn this in. preserve it. otherwise the businesses might ordinarily lose that after a couple of days. so it needed to be preserved. get to the government. it takes time to get through all this. once you know about the location and timeframe, officials can get through that relatively rapidly. >> quite extraordinary yesterday. people taking the air shuttle and flying from boston logan to let's say, new york, were stopped. heard an announcement. before you leave here, ask yourself, do you have any evidence. did you take any pictures of the marathon? i arrived at the amtrak station yesterday and heard announcement for outgoing passengers. and you know what, it works. most people are good-hearted citizens and want to help. just triggering something, you know what, i took a picture at

the finish line but it was an hour earlier. but if it is of any help, here it is. >> that's right. it shows gotness of people that everyone is trying to contribute. it also highlights that people may not know what they have. it may take time to know that you took a picture a mile away 45 minutes before but you assign that with a picture someone else has at the scene. and finally it shows a great response. a response of course is to help the people at the scene after the bombing. but for federal, state officials to get together rapidly and say, this is an invaluable way to collect intelligence and get those processes in place and get people handing in that data, unbelievably good. >> as we said, when we came on the air, we have done so because this was clearly accelerating this investigation. as we sit here at 2:06 eastern time, there are various media reports that an arrest has been made. some of them citing boston pd.

others citing federal sources. our own pete williams has taken a break from us to work the phones himself, and is now ready to speak us to in our washington bureau. pete, what do you know and what can we say? >> what we've been told by several source says there is no arrest. then it begins to break down from there, about whether -- let's start at the other end. what do they know? they believe they have video that shows what they were looking for. a person setting down a black nylon bag at the scene of one of the bombings and walking away. now as we go toward the other end of that, we have two conflicting source is on whether, you know, they see that person, they look at the face. do they know who it is or not? someone says yes, they are trying to find him. other sources say no, they are trying to figure out who it is. which is it, i don't know. i will say throughout this, from the beginning of this, this has been the hall mark of this

story. that information that is pointing in totally different direction says coming from normally very dependable sources and you know, we can't just flip a i couldn't and pick one. we have to have them line up before we can say for sure what it is. so, you know, all we can say for certain is that all of our sources say no arrest. some sources say a person has been identified. they are trying to find them to question them, to find out what their story is. others say they don't even know who it is yet. so that's the best i can say. but again, i say, you know, stepping back from it, all this is a very positive sign that there is good leads that they are following up on. and where this will end, who knows. >> and just because people, we live in a modern world and people are looking at computers and devices, the associated press, nation's wire service and often the first draft of all of this, for their part is reporting a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation says a suspect has been taken into custody in the

boston bombings. so we are just not comfortable based on our sources at this hour reporting that. so pete williams is correct in saying that this is all over the map right now. the one thing that appears to be clear is that either video or still pictures or a combination of both have led law enforcement officials to, at least, zero in on someone. this just in to us. investigators obtained video of a person placing a black bag down near the scene of the blast. one of the sources confirm the foot offage came from the lord and taylor surveillance camera. this is information we've already reported. video or stills that will give them imagery and give them at least the first road to go down when going down through the streets of boston and looking for who to pick up. various media accounts right now as to whether or not someone is

in custody. someone is fully under arrest. we will leave the air now and we will hop back on the air if we learn anything different or receive any official confirmation. so for now, for our team, we will remain in place. i'm brian williams, nbc news, new york. and i'm tamron hall. "news nation" continues to follow the "news nation." michael is standing by live. michael, conflicting information. you've been in touch with pete williams. what are you hearing regarding solid leads now in this case? >> well, first of all, significant progress has been made. they have identified from this video at the lord and taylor building which is right by the second bomb site, a couple hundred yards from where i am now, an image of an individual

who drops a black bag that could well have been used, and they may believe have been used for the bombing. but it's unclear. there is no confirmation of arrest, first of all. that's the first thing we have to say. the image may show somebody who they are seeking to find. in other words, seeking to find someone in that video but it is not clear they know exactly who that is. and it is not -- and it certainly is not clear that they have found that person yet. so they've got significant progress from yesterday. this is an answer from where we with were. and it also used enhanced video from the local nbc affiliate that provided the image that we all saw this morning of a black bag, trash bag, that believe could well have been holding the bomb. and then vanishing at the time of the explosion. so an enhancement of that video

was used with the lord and taylor video to help identify a potential suspect. but again -- >> right. >> -- no arrests have been confirmed. >> so for people joining us right now, about an hour ago, there was word that significant developments were here that authorities were zeroing in on solid leads. then it became more clear that surveillance video would perhaps be a part of the equation here. now you're telling me that surveillance video specifically from a department store may be a significant piece of the puzzle where we stand right now. >> exactly. there is a lord and taylor store right by the second bomb site. right by the site of the second bomb explosion. and there is on the second floor a static video camera and apparently some footage from that lord and taylor video

footage was used to help identify this potential suspect. that's what we know right now. >> michael, let me get to you hang on. i have jonathan here with me from our nbc affiliate in new york. you have new information as well. >> there have been reports that an arrest has been made. several law enforcement sources tell us that has not happened. there will abnormal statement coming from the justice department and fbi shortly to refute those reports. what we do know there is this video as michael and pete williams have been explaining of a man putting a bag down near the scene and they have a tentative id on who that person may be and they want to question and speak to that man. i do not know yet if they found that man. they may have. they may be speaking to him. as of now there is no arrest in this case and the investigation as michael and pete were just explaining, is moving forward but there is no break in the

case in the sense that an arrest has been made. >> jonathan, regarding the update from law enforcement personnel, we were expecting an update at 5:00 p.m. eastern time. originally that was around 1:00 p.m. eastern time. when are we getting this update. >> that is going to be an e-mail statement, that's my guess, from the justice department or fbi, saying there is no arrest, at the 5:00 press conference later today. as pete explained, this is one of several fronts that investigators are tracking down. they've got this video. it shows somebody putting a bag down. there is hope that that could be a key break in this case. is it the suspect? we don't know. is it someone who they think they've identified and they are going to question and speak to? yes. but again, no arrest. the bombing case is not solved, if that's what people think. but investigators are on their way in following some major leads in this case, and that's where things stand.

>> okay. let me bring in pete williams since we have referred to him so many times already. pete, you are working the phones, as we like to say here. we understand the anxiety here. people want a solution. they want to know who the individual is responsible for this. especially this has been compare so much to the atlanta olympic park bombing and we know it took many years for someone to be convicted for that crime. but pete, back to the information with the surveillance video, and i don't know if we have the answers to this, and i'm hedging the bets we do not. but if the video shows someone placing that bag down, wouldn't that video show the bag exploding? would the camera move away from that vantage point? would that tell the story perhaps? >> it might. it might be obscured by people in the foreground. could be a momentary gap. but let me get to where the facts are. tam ron, at t tamron, at the end of the day, someone will be right. pick your conclusion. someone is right out there.

i can only tell you what we have been told by senior government officials. >> absolutely. >> yes, there is video showing someone setting down a a bag at the scene of one of the bombings. this person doesn't show up in both places, but shows up in one place. period. they don't know who that person is, they tell me. they have not identified the person yet. so they can't go out and talk to the person until they know who it is. they certainly can't arrest them unless they know who it is. what we are told by several federal official sets very promising development, that and let's not undersell this, this is a very promising lead that they have video that they think showes what they've been looking for. now they have it figure out, all right, who is that and where is that person and take the investigation from there. could we have a resolution by the end of the day? possible. doubtful. could take a while.

but that's the best thiinformat we have at this point. >> michael mccall, republican from texas just told reporters that he spoke with the fbi five minutes ago and they told him they do not have anybody in custody at this time. those are the exact words from the quote that the fbi does not have anybody in custody at this time. pete, we have talked about patience in this investigation and to your point, the information will either be right or wrong that is being disseminated at this point. it does speak it anxiety. the president has called for pa patience so it can be right. so people are not living on the edge with the wrong information. so authorities can do their jobs. >> right. this has been -- i mean, look. there's several factors. there's a lot of eagerness to have this thing wrapped up. there are several different agencies working this case.

there are rumors going around. one in particular seems to keep recycling. even though they knocked it down several times about this student here, that there is some interest in them. they know that's long washed out. that there's no interest in him. that seems to die out and keep coming back. so this is a story on which there is interest and misinformation and we are sticking with what we believe to be fact, which are to describe them. >> let me bring in michael leiter. michael, what are your sources telling you? >> well, be honest, i don't always check with folks during this critical time. folks may not like that. but this is a fluid situation. what i would tell you from my experience in the white house is there is a lot of information flying around right now. it is quite clear to me that investigation has accelerated. that people who are of interest

have been identified. whether or not that's led it arrest, this is where information always falls apart. i expect over the coming hours, we will have more come out from the fbi. my guess is a combination of cell phones tracking, forensics from the bomb, video from the site. all of that will become the additive whole that indeed an individual or individuals of interest at least, have been identified, and some may be brought into custody. >> and we know that, michael, the fbi is the lead investigative body, if you will. they are collecting all of the evidence. to the point that pete made, a senior official says under is no rest. no person even identified. there is a video showing someone placing a bag down, period. that is what we know. but is it possible some of the confusion has sprouted at this point because of multiple agencies. while the fbi is the lead, you have boston pd and others

involved in this? how did this happen, if you will? >> i think the confusion comes from a couple places. first, you're absolutely right. there is the, people have sources in the boston police department. they have them with the fbi, secret service and so on and so on, alphabet soup. secondly, everyone in the government, when they get called by someone in the government, they want to prove their oath worth by telling everything they know. the truth is, they may not be central to the investigation. so you have conflicting streams from within individual organizations and conflicting information from different organizations. >> jonathan, you have people saying the same thing that pete williams is saying here. but i want to focus on the facts we do know. there is video showing someone setting the bag down. do we know any more detail? is it at close range? are they able to at least make

out a face on this video? >> i don't know the detail of what image shows. my information mirrors almost exactly what michael and pete have reported. they may know who is on that video and they are going to question -- >> can you elaborate on that at all? >> i can't. that's just the basics that we have. but all law enforcement. multiple sources, have said, no arrest, no major break of that kind. and as i'm told from sources, there will abnormal statement out of justice department and -- a formal statement out of the justice department soon. and saying that the reports about the arrests are wrong. this is one of many avenues still being pursued in terms of who did this and why. they don't know yet. they do not have that answer. they are doing their due diligence and step by step going

over all of this mountain of evidence that they have to pour through. they have rebuilt the bombs, devic devices. they have ladies from that. they have some information of interest reporting a guy setting a bag down. they believe they have maybe an idea of who he is. pete says they don't know. i have a tentative id, at least i'm told they have a tentative id and now they are going out to question that person. whether that person turns out to be the person who put the bag down or misidentification. there are lots of things that can be happening. so i think the press, at least in some reporters out there, got this information and ran with it. without dotting the is and crossing the ts as to what happens in this investigation and pete has it dead on in terms of this is a step by step case and that they are not at an arrest yet. whether that happens between now and 5:00 press conference,

unclear. we don't have it. >> we don't know because everything is moving so rapidly. confusion canned aly slip in. we saw that with the identification of krystle campbell. one of the victims. one of the three confirmed fatalities. the family went to the hospital. they were told that she survived. but when they got there, it was in fact their friend attending the marathon and that their daughter parished in the explosion. i want to go back it michael on the ground in boston. michael, gauge for me the activity as far as investigators. not people who are trying to at least get back to normal and milling about but the area that crime scene, what kind of activity have you seen there today? >> right. it clearly intensified today. we saw agent in hazmat suites and bomb-sniffing dogs combing the area of the bomb site earlier today. looking, going through debris.

looking for any scraps of evidence. this is a very intense investigation today. clearly activities have accelerated. we were told yesterday we would get a briefing in the morning g and that got pushed back to 1:00 and then that was pushed back to 5:00. i suspect that's from the program made. but reality check, we've all been saying this afternoon, we really got to take this slowly. we don't know -- there are no arrest. we don't know if they really identified or found a suspect yet and even if they have, remember these -- the federal law enforcement can often be wrong in their first impressions as well. suspects can turn out to be entirely clear later. we saw that in the atlanta bombing and the anthrax case. so we all ought to take a deep breath and see how it unfolds. >> michael leiter, let me bring

you back in to comment on michael's point earlier. the atlanta bombing in '96, eric rudolph was not charged until '98. as the media, lessons are learned when the wrong person is identified and what happens to that individual's life and of those reporting. is it likely we will hear from federal investigators sooner than 5:00 p.m. eastern time, which is a few hours from now, with the flurry of confusion that it is persistent at this point, michael? >> often in my experience, the reason that federal officials delay press conference says because the situation is simply too fast moving and they know there are going to be further developments so they don't want to come out.

and we don't want conflicting reports from sources and because it is so fast moving we shouldn't expect an official statement. and it is not just the media that learn frd past mistakes. the fbi has learned, you know, very hard lessons from the anthrax investigation and the like and very much taken that to heart. and they want to work through this methodically and frankly they don't want all of it to be aired to the public just through the media. they want to get it right and then make the statement, as does the president. >> michael, i know you've got to leave us. hopefully you can join us at end of the hour. with surveillance cameras, all of that looked offer by authorities, the components of the bomb itself, there was a pressure cooker used and here we are 24 hours later with this new flurry of information. while patience is required and

asked of all of us, this case is moving rapidly, can i say, in some ways? >> well, certainly people are working rapidly. obviously some progress has been made. but we -- i think there was a lot of hope when we saw the component of the bomb parts, that that would help lead to the suspect. give you one example, one of the components we saw was this battery pack. i spoke a little while ago to the company that makes that battery pack in china. they are made for remote control cars an trucks. sold at hobby stores. they've sold thousands of these battery packs in just the last year, including some to boston area hobby stores. but they say it would be very difficult to trace that particular battery pack to any

particular sale. that the -- their model numbers are not that specific. they are in huge lot numbers and they don't think it would be easy to trace the particular battery pack found at the bomb site to any particular store or certainly any particular buyer. so, we may still have a long way to go. we don't know yet. >> michael and jonathan are still here with me. we've got new information. a senior boston police department official involved in the investigation confirms again no arrests. now we've got multiple sources jonathan, no arrests at this time. reiterating what you said. we have to stress this. we are in an age of twitter, facebook, social media where you have people repeating information that may or might not be right. and it is our job to clarify as much as we can with the facts. this is what is consistent with what you are being told right now. >> pete and i are on the phone

as some reports began to surface. we were strcratching our heads, where is this coming from? neither of us heard from good sources about an arrest. sometimes one media outlet will put information out and it just explodes and it is -- >> and other media outlets are following. i'm getting a number of update from other media organizations. via the phone, which we all have smart phone, internet, whether at work or home, that quote an arrest has been made, despite repeated individuals saying that's not the case. >> members of congress saying, no arrest. and you have a justice department officials saying that soon they will put out an official stieatement refusing those reports. again, they have this video as we have all heard that could identify a man believed to be putting down a bag and they need to track that down possible --

>> okay, a senior administration official now saying no arrests. that's according to our peter alexander. i want to go to kristin welker who is standing by. kristin, let me explain to our audience, this video they are looking at. this is one of the images that authorities have been refusing that shows an individual running from the scene. jonathan is standing by. we are not saying this is a suspect. the upon the i'm making is that each and every piece has been reviewed and people have interpretations of things. is this a man running from the scene or someone that should be questioned? >> that is a man running from the scene. they tracked it down and he is a victim and you know, and why there's question about that or why was it of interesting at first? because everyone else is cowering and on the ground and in shock and he is running. so -- he is running to get away. an innocent victim. it is not at all related to this except that he was victimized in

this bombing, according to many sources we spoke with. >> let's go to kristin welker. kristin we heard from jay carney a short time ago with the white house update on at least their perspective of the investigation and expectations here. >> that's right. and they are monitoring this right now. i can tell you, upstairs of course president obama has been in constant contact with the fbi, dhs as this investigation has unravelled. there is a sense of heightened alert here, as we got news that a suspicious letter, a let are with a suspicious substance was sent to president obama. it was intercepted. that substance testing positive for ricin similar to those sent to the hill including a letter sent to senator wicker. now we want it make this very clear. at this point in time investigators do not believe there's a connection between these letters and the bombing in boston. but offously giving the timing,

it has just added to the here behind the scenes. president obama is scheduled to go to boston tomorrow with the first lady to attend a memorial service there. he will meet with the families of the victims and help that community which right now is in a state of healing. but again, senior admin strag officials confirming at this point in time per their understanding there has not been an arrest. tamron? >> all right, kristin, we will check back with you. i think michael is standing by at this point. michael, i want to go back to this video aired by whdh. the photo of the package along the route. there is a great amount of attention. tell me what people believe they are seeing here.

>> first of all, that's circumstantial evidence. the bag at site of the bomb, you see the explosion moments later in the second shot. it's circumstantial link between that package and the bomb. but not conclusive. it was shot by a local affiliate, provided to authorities, and they enhanced the video. it helped them draw the link. we still don't have definitive confirmation that that package was the source of the bomb. so there may have been other packages there. we don't know what point the bomber or bombers placed the packages about a hundred yards apart. so there is still a lot we don't know here. but clearly that video, we are told, combined with that other

video from the lord & taylor camera, helped authorities pinpoint this potential suspect. >> michael, do we know and this may be an impossible question to answer, do we know how much of the materials, the explosive used have been recovered? have authorities been able to give us more detail on just how much they have been aib able to carry if there was as well as shrapnel from survivors aeb put together the component of these explosives? >> we've gotten quite a few pictures, which i believe we've been showing all day here. gtd of the black nie nylon bag, the twisted metal, the battery pack i referred to earlier, the circuit board. there is quite a few pieces of debris of this evidence i

mentioned before. those agents in hazmat suites and they were clearly looking for parts of the shrapnel that become exploded. all that is is being shipped to the lab in quanico. and you get the sense of how so fistcated this is. i have experts giving me varying degrees. anyone could have made this. the recipe is on the internet. and others say if you look at the full totality, and the use of the energy battery pack and 12-second interview between the first explosion and second

explosion, that points to a level of sophistication that not everybody could have achieved. >> okay, michael. we will check back in with you. but again, white house senior advisers, boston police official as well, and a number of sources saying there's not been an arrest. there are however, significant leads being followed including as our team has reported, individual dwvideo that shows an individual placing down a bag. that people is being pursued. we don't know any more details beyond that information as a fact. but we will go to a break and have more information on the other breaking news story. the secret service intercepting a letter intended for president obama that initially tested positive for the potentially dangerous and poisonous ricin. we will have the latest on both of these breaking news stories right after our break. ♪

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obama that initially tested positive for the potentially deadly poison, ricin. now this is the second case in two days. yesterday officials discovered a very similar letter containing ricin intended to mississippi senator. that was a confirmed case of ricin. officials believe they know who's responsible. the white house says more testing on the substance is right now under way. >> the fbi has a lead for determining whether a suspicious powder is a dangerous substance, such as ricin. and those take place at accredited facilities and take a certain amount of time as the fbi has indicated. these procedures are in place. procedures are effective and in operation now and we are in the midst of that process which the fbi is undertaking at this time. >> jonathan, back with me, you have been covering both of these stories. latest developments out of boston. as well as mississippi senator roger wicker did not actually

receive the letter. since 9/11, their mail goes to a facility where it is screened. this is how we learn bed this ricin incident but now a second letter to the white house. >> right. both letters are off site facilities. that's first. second, our information is that preliminary field testing showed that there is a positive hit for ricin and that the letters were sent from the same person. now, those letters yesterday had to be sent to a lab for further testing. lab results for formal conclusion takes 24 to 48 hours. so i'm told they are still awaiting final test reports to see if, if a dangerous substance was in fact placed in these letters. there was concern there was. but law enforcement officials, secret service, fbi, capitol hill police say no one was in dane jury because again letters were stopped at off site screening facilities and as pete williams has been reporting, they have a good idea who it is who sent the letters and they

wait for the test results to come in before they go out and decide whether an arrest is to be made in that case, in that instance. >> senator claire mississippi castle who believes he is not is sending mail to elected fibls officials she said earlier today but in senator wicker's case wasn't it tested twice and confirmed? >> you may have more because i con distracted on the boston piece. i had field tests showed that yes it was the substance and that we were still awaiting the final lab test results. but again, if it came in in the last hour, i was distracted with the boston arrest. and we are still waiting for the initial word but we are waiting confirmation of a serious substance. >> jonathan, i'm told to go back to boston. we understand there is video of people gathering at the

courthouse thereafter perhaps hearing some of this information. i do not know, i will not speculate. let me go to michael isikoff. michael, what can you tell me about what is happening there? >> well, i think people got excited when there were reports of an arrest and people congregated at the courthouse. we are getting further and further confirmation, there is no such arrest. since the period we've been on the air. i got two e-mails on my blackberry from senior federal law enforcement officials telling me no arrest. no suspect in custody. so people are gathering at the courthouse expecting to see the perpetrator of the boston marathon bombing being brought into the hauls of justice, they are going to be disappointed today. >> and it is -- can you imagine the emotions of people hearing that there's been a major development such as an arrest and so much so that they show up to see what is happening there

and again, i cannot stress enough, this speak to the anxiety. three people lost their lives. one kid can be five years old, injured. another kid, 8 years old, lost his life. classmates and kids he played lace ball wi baseball with showed up. so the level of anxiety, is why people showed up. they are hoping that the information is right. this is a case where you don't want it to be wrong because we would like to know who was responsible and why. >> that's right. and look, law enforcement officials are going to be as thorough as they can in this case. and they are going to, as quickly, but as responsibly, do what they need to did to track down what is responsible. that's why you say still, guys in white suites picking up every

little piece of evidence to find out every possible piece of bomb component to hopefully provide a clue. that's why they are going over hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours of videotape, and that's why they have one person they have great interest in speaking to. that's why there was such confusion from press out there for the suspect perhaps somebody was found and questioned and then released. but that got lost in the so-called leak that took place to some other news organizations and that's how these things can happen but all along, we have been saying no arrest and that the investigation is continuing. >> it is not our words. we are repeating what senior officials at the white house, the boston police department, the federal officials saying, point blank, no arrest, no person even identified yet. but there is, as you pointed out, this video showing someone sitting down a bag. this is the information that officials from a number of agencies are relaying to us.

so these are the facts. now, if something is else is going on, they are not making us aware of it. >> right. there is lots going on -- >> of course there is. as there should be. >> investigators are running around, and as the fbi said yesterday, that this literally is stretching, you know, nationally and internationally as they follow any lead that come in. and again, we don't know if this is some sort of international terror conspiracy. some sort of domestic group or anarchi anarchist lone actor. we don't know. i don't think they know. they may have lead as to who they are looking for and want it question based on this video and this bag. but again, the investigation is continuing and a part of it is that they have much of the bomb and bomb parts recovered and now tracking who purchasesed those materials, where were they purchased and that will help provide the break or key

evidence as if you remember the investigation, when that terrorist was arrested, there was video of him in the shopping isleses, l aisles, literally buying the bomb parts. so where did they purchase them, how was it built, how was it delivered, and they are not there yet. >> to be clear, we are presenting information from senior federal officials, from the white house. we can't express enough that we are not beating down this story or beating down, right or wrong leads. when you see people show up outside aftof a courthouse, tha perhaps there was an arrest in this case, it is our responsibility to pass on the factual information we have been able to obtain. this is where things stand now. jonathan, thank you. we will go to a quick break and we will be back with more. we have breaking news in this case and we will be right back. . except it's 2% every year.

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. welcome back. we are following breaking news into who is responsible for the bombing of the boston marathon. let me take you back it michael isikoff. he is there on the scene. michael, have you gotten any new information for us regardinges this quote solid leads? >> well, solid leads that are not as solid as some had hoped just an hour or so ago. yes. we've got -- they are trying to identify, and this suspect, find the potential suspect, who they -- who was seen in video dropping off the bag in front of the lord & taylor store. it is not clear that they foupd that individual and certainly they haven't arrested them. but there's clearly been, a, break through of sorts here. we just still do not know whether it is the break through in this case or not.

>> okay. i have an fbi statement right now, michael isikoff. it was just handed to me so i will read it cold without seeing it. it said contrary to widespread reporting there is no arrest made in connection to the boston marathon attack. there have been information from unofficial sources that have been inaccurate. since these stories often have unintended consequences we ask the media particularly at this early stage of the investigation it exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting. this is an fbi statement. i've just received. pete williams aware of this as well. he is the person who had this handed off us to, michael. now the fbi is confirming all of this again. >> right. so that brings us back to where we were when we started. there's been -- there's been some progress, some reason for

optimism, maybe got important clues or are on to a suspect or witness but we still have a long way to go and there's going to be a 5:00 press conference. there's going to be a lot of questions about all this. by will try to clarify whether they've identified this person in the video or not. whether they have found that person or not. and hopefully we will be able to answer this soon enough. >> jonathan, let me bring you back in on the conversation to reiterate details regarding this video. showing this individual. again from the lord & taylor department store cameras, what michael isikoff said and what else were your sources able to tell you they could see on this video. >> basically the best information we have is that at one of the bomb sites a man is seen putting down a black duffle bag type bag at the scene and then leaving. and that is it is a pretty good image and that they had leads as to who that person might be and that they were working to try to

track that person down. question them and see if that person is in any way connected to the bombings. that is a far cry from saying they have a suspect or that a suspect has been arrested. which neither of which we are told has happened. so again, they is a good piece of video. that coupled with over the last 24 hours which justice department and fbi officials have said, on the record, that they have assembled and found many of the bomb parts and that they are tracking those components to see where they may have been purr hasspurchased. so you couple tracking the device, as well as searching for the video images and they are making progress and steps in this investigation. but again, you just heard it from the fbi, no arrest made in this case. >> and we don't have any word from the fbi or investigators as to the clarity of this video, right, jonathan? >> i don't have exact details. other than explained to me, it is a pretty good image and they

are trying to see if they can verify who that person might be and that work continues. and i'm sure that work is continuing, not just with that one image, which may be the best image they have. remember they are pouring over hundreds and hundreds of hours of video tape, not to mention photos from the people from the marathon have handed to them. so it is a huge task before them and they are working around the clock. >> the fbi, if you will, i'm paraphrasing, earn their keep. this is what they do and they are able to put the small minute details together. but before we end this hour of "news nation," the fbi releasing a statement saying contrary to widespread reporting there have been no arrests made in connection with the boston air that marathon attack. we are expecting an update around 5:00 p.m. eastern time and perhaps we will get better clarification on this video taken from the lord & taylor department store along the marathon route. that according to tht sources,

indicated to nbc, individual seen placing down a black duffle bag. that is a focus of authorities right now but there are many pieces to this puzzle, dare i say, but the latest information, fbi, is saying no arrest made. coverage. continue of course. colleagues with "the cycle" are up next. [ all ] fort benning, georgia, in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto-insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

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developments in the boston marion bombing. investigators say they have surveillance after person setting off bombs where the bags went off. they do have persons of interest but at this moment the word is no arrest. the story is changing by the minute. there are a lot of conflicting pieces of information out there right now. to set it straight we go to pote williams. pete, what is the latest? >> the latest is that fbi is very excited about some possible leads based on this bonanza of information they've received in